I am mindful of the fact that the advertising on this site is ugly, and often runs counter to the main lines of argument here. For instance, there are often ads for oil companies.
All told, the ads yield roughly $100 per year, which is enough to cover the costs of hosting the site.
Would people strongly prefer a site without ads? If so, would they be willing to donate to make that happen?
To be fair, I have always encouraged people to use advertising blocking plugins. Adblock Plus, for Chrome and Firefox, is excellent.
Author: Milan
In the spring of 2005, I graduated from the University of British Columbia with a degree in International Relations and a general focus in the area of environmental politics. In the fall of 2005, I began reading for an M.Phil in IR at Wadham College, Oxford.
Outside school, I am very interested in photography, writing, and the outdoors. I am writing this blog to keep in touch with friends and family around the world, provide a more personal view of graduate student life in Oxford, and pass on some lessons I've learned here.
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Related: 2010 blog finances
Another reason to object to the ads is that their presence means Google is tracking everyone who uses this site.
I would be willing to contribute to the costs of hosting this website.
You’re such a cunt
Seriously the ads on this site are such shit if your an environmentalist how can you run them
Recently I’ve seen several interesting conversations about ad blocking, and I wanted to remind people about a great offering called Google Contributor. With Google Contributor, you contribute a certain amount of money each month. That subscription means that you see fewer ads on the web, and you support the sites that you visit with your money.
You get to decide how much to contribute (I do $10/month, but for example you can do $2/month if you prefer). The more you contribute, the fewer ads you see. The handwave-y explanation that when you go to a website, your monthly subscription actually bids on your behalf in ad auctions. So you end up buying the ad yourself rather than someone else.
https://www.mattcutts.com/blog/google-contributor/